Improvement in pneumatic engines



aient wir.

` y, Inon- ERT srnAR, or NEWHAVEN, ooNNncTIcUT.

`Letters Patent Noi 97 ,822,- elated December 14, l1869'.

IMPRQVEMENT IN PNEUMATIC:` ENGINES.

The Soheule-referred to in these Letters`Patent and making part of thesame.

. Beit known that I, ROBERT SPnAn, of N ew Haven, inthe county of NewHaven, and State of -(lonnecticut, l

have invented-certain new and useful Improvements in Mine-DraiuingEngine; and I do hereby declare s, that the following is afull, clear,and exact description l thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdraw# ings, and to the lettersof reference marked thereon, which 4fornia part of this specification.

Thenat-ure of myinvention consists inthe construe-- for draining minesorjother purposes.

In orderY to enable others skilled in the art to whlch `my inventionappertains, to make and use the same,dI will now` proceed to describeits construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, inwhich- Figure l is a perspective view ofthe engine, a portionandarrangement ofa hvdraulic engine,` to be used tion of the cylinderbeingbroken `away to show the piston; v Figure 2`is a side elevation;and l Figure 3 is a horizontal'seotiou of the same. A represents thecylinder, made rery strong, and

1 fcapable of sustaining'a pressure of several hundred pounds when it isrequired toraise the water to a great height, or of suicient strength tocorrespond vith the requiredlelevation of thewater, for whatever purposeitmay be used.

Inthe side of the cylinder, near'or at its bottom, is

aman-hole, B, for the purpose of cleaning the cylinder `of any dirt andsediment settling within the same from the-water, said man-hole beingclosed any suitable Near the bottom, on one side ofthe cylinder,-i`s theinducting water-valve C, and on the opposite side, at

. the same height, is the @ducting water-valve I), cou'- `nected withthe pipe E, to carry or raise the water to l any desired height.

The inductng-valve O is `so constrnctedcas to openinwardand allowfreeingress to the `water, but will l, close to any pressure from theinside, .preventing the water from passing'out through the same.

f lThe egress-valve D isj ust the reverse, opening outward, seas -toallow thewater to be forced through' Sliding collar h, which, actingupon the spiral -spring the same. Y v l Within the cylinder A is placedthe piston G, which `isof such sizeas to leave a space between its outercircumference and the` inner surface of the cylinder,k

as shown in iig. 3. l

' The piston Gr is` guided in its motion up and down witlin thecylinder' by means of two ribs or tongues,

1 va a, placed verticallyin the sides of the cylinder, and

projecting into .notches ornsuitable grooves made for that' purpose inthe edge of the piston. i

" '.[he piston-rod H, secured to thecentre of the pisl toiifGpasseSupward through a stning-box in the l upper head of thecylinder. l

In the upper h ead of the cylinder are'two pipes, I and J, the pipe Ibeing the inducting force-pipe, and

J, the exhanst-pipe, both being provided with valves vI) and zZ,respectively,.and said valves or stop-cocks are connected, by. means ofa rod, c, so as to be operated simultaneously. They are, boweverfsoarranged that Y 'when one is open, the other is closed, and vice versa.

lo the valve-connecting rod c is attached a verticaL rod, f, whichpasses up through a horizontal plate, K,"v

secured to the pipes I and J, and through which the .piston-rodH alsopasses. .On the opposite side of the piston-rod H'from that on which therod f moves, is placed a standard, L, between the cylinder and thecross-head K.

This standard i's provided with a groove, i, vertical in the centre, andcurved. at both ends, and around eacliend of said standard is placed aspiral spring, g. l

g g, is placed a loose collar, 7i, which moves'up and down on thestandard, and is guided by a pin or feather on its inside, fitting inthe groove'i. y

From the outside of the collar I projects a pin, as'seeu in fign. y

Upon the piston-rod H, at a suitable point, is secured a collar,k,.having` au arm, n, extending outward toward the standard L, andanother arm, o, extending in the opposite direction, that is, toward therod j,

upon whichy are placed two adjustable collars, p p, at 'suitabledistance apart.

The engine is operated by being placed at the lowest point from which itisy desired to elevate the water, and in such a manner that the watercan flow around and as high as, or higher than the top of the cylinder,

which is lled by the dow of water through the valve C. The piston G isso constructed that it floats in the l water inthe cylinder, andisraised asthe water flows intov it. The pistou is guided clear of-thecylinder by means -of the ribs or tongues, as above'mentioned.

l The use of the piston is to alternately open and closethestopocks b d,in the. force and-exhaust-pipes I J,

' and is accomplished in the following manner:

Near the close-of .the upward stroke of the piston Gr, the arm n, ou itsrod ]:l, meets the pin m, on th'e above,tends`to retard the ascent ofthe piston and depress itin thewater in the cylinder.

The collar h, however, following the curvature at the vupper end ofthegroovc fi, gradually turns away v from the arm n, and becomes, at theproper point,

disconnected from the same.

, Airthe same time the short arm o strikes the upper collar 1, upon` therod f,. which issnddeuly elevated by the depressed piston rising in thewater.

This action closes the exhaust-valve al and opens the force stop-cock b,allowing the compressed air to pass through the force-pipe I, and actdirectly with its Around the standard L, between the spiral springs fullforce upon the water, expelling the same through the cducting-ra'lve Dand pipe E. A

At the inst-ant when the pin m, upon the slide h, becomes disengagedfrom the arm n, as above described, the slide falls down along thestandard L, following the groove t', until itrests upon the spring g,ready to be acted upon at the descent of the piston.

The pistonG contains an amount of gravity together with its own weight,corresponding with its liftingpower or buoyancy7 by which, in itsdescent, it is made to reverse the action of the stop-cocks by a suddenmotion, in precisely the sinne-manner as described for its ascent, thusopening the exhaust and closing the force-pipe.

It is, of course, understood that the machine should be so constructed,that when the piston descends, it will, under no circumstances, comebelow the inductiug and educting water-pipes.

The reason of the devices for checking the piston in its ascent anddescent is, that the stop-cocks oper- -ated by its action require to beopened suddenly, as it is obvious that if otherwise worked, as soon asthe cocks were opened to a limited extent, there would be force admittedsuficient to check the risc of the piston, but not enough to expel thewater, so that the action of the engine would become neutralized, whichdifficulty is entirely ohriated by the sudden action of the reserved oraccumulated force of the piston, which can he so constructed, without inany manner injuring the action of the engine, that any desired amount offorce required for this purpose can always he obtained.

From what has been said, it isobvious that to complete the combination,an air-condensing engine is required, which is connected with thehydraulic engine by the force-pipe or conduit I, which is of sulcientsize to :ict as a reservoir, or to be supplied with force from areservoir, into which air is forced by the condensing-engine.

The air exhausted at the upward stroke of the engine may be utilized forVentilating the mine in which the hydraulic engine is placed.

As a conduit for transmitting force from the condensing-engine to thehydraulic engine, I intend to employ the means patented by me, October5, 1,869, (mode of transmitting power,) by which means thecondensing-engine may be placed at any desired distance from the mine.

I do not confine myself to the exact construction or arrangement of themechanism composing the engine herein described, as the principleembraced is susceptible of other embodiments or modifications, and yetemploy substantially the invention which I desire secured hy LettersPatent.

1. A pneumatic engine into which condensed air is admitted, and fromwhich it escapes through alternating cocks,- automaticallyoperated,substantially as described.

2. A plurality of cocks, connected by. a crank or cam-arrangement, andoperated by the ascent and descent of the lient-stem, substantially asdescribed.

3. An engine constructed and arranged as described, so that it willwork; .automatically for ejectin g the water when a given quantitythereof` Shail he received into the engine, and by which means the poweris admitted to expel the water, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing asv my own, I `affix mysignature, in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT SPEAR.

Witnesses:

T. H. ALEXANDER, M. A. Busen.

